New A1200 - some questions

I'm considering buying a new A1200 in the form of the "Magic Pack" which was launched during the Amiga Technologies era. I have a couple of questions about this purchase.

1. Will I be able to play most old games like Giana Sisters, IK+, Bubble Bobble, Ports of Call, Defender of The Crown etc? I've heard there's some kind of boot menu that can trick the games to think they're running on an A500 and the likes of that machine. Does this work for most games? Or will I be better off buying an A500 if I want to play these games?

2. If I want to add a HDD in the future, will I be needing some kind of interface to attach an ordinary IDE-drive or is it just to plug it in and boot?

3. I've read about problems with the floppydrive in the late/relaunched A1200s. Any experience with these?

Other opinions about a purchase of a brand new A1200? I feel it would be like christmas 1990 all over again to get to open a new Amiga.  :-)

[whabang]

Will I be able to play most old games like Giana Sisters, IK+, Bubble Bobble, Ports of Call, Defender of The Crown etc? I've heard there's some kind of boot menu that can trick the games to think they're running on an A500 and the likes of that machine. Does this work for most games? Or will I be better off buying an A500 if I want to play these games?

You can't  make the game think it's running on an A500, however you can disable the CPU caches and emulate the older chipsets to increase compatability.

If I want to add a HDD in the future, will I be needing some kind of interface to attach an ordinary IDE-drive or is it just to plug it in and boot?

There is a built in 2.5" IDE interface on the A1200, however it's not very fast. It should work fine though.

I've read about problems with the floppydrive in the late/relaunched A1200s. Any experience with these?

Yup, there are quite a few old games, who won't run on these machines. Games from 1989 and up generally works though.

[Hardboy]

Here is my opinion:

If playing games is the overall goal, go for the a500.

If you want something (maybe just a little bit) more than just being able to play games, then go for the a1200.

You can connect a standard IDE harddisk to the a1200, but you´ll need a cable, as the a1200 has a 2.5" connector on the motherboard.

As a plus, an a1200 with a HD, could get games installed on the HD, which in many cases is nice. Also many old disk-only games have patches now,so that you can install them to HD. You would then need some extra memory though..

Anyway, you shouldn´t go out buying a brand new amiga. Get one used, try amibench

[Guyver]

Here's my list.

Will I be able to play most old games like Giana Sisters, IK+, Bubble Bobble, Ports of Call, Defender of The Crown etc? I've heard there's some kind of boot menu that can trick the games to think they're running on an A500 and the likes of that machine. Does this work for most games? Or will I be better off buying an A500 if I want to play these games?

Not that i know of. You run into some probz, with games that wont start on your A1200, it might be because they need a Kickstarter 1.3, and if they do, there nothing to, unless you can get hold of a Kickstarter switch.
You can get into a boot-menu by, holding either both mouse keys or one of them, when you start the Amiga, then you should get into a startup menu, which allow you to alter some things

If I want to add a HDD in the future, will I be needing some kind of interface to attach an ordinary IDE-drive or is it just to plug it in and boot?

If you're talking about a 3.5" IDE Hard disk, then you'll need a adaptor, like IDE Fix or PowerFlyer.

I've read about problems with the floppydrive in the late/relaunched A1200s. Any experience with these?

Not here.

Well my opinnion is: Congat with your A1200, i have had a lot of great time with mine. O great idea is get an accellorater card, a tower and a Mediator card.

The best of luck with the new Amiga,a nd welcome :-D  :-D  :-D

[Hardboy]

Not that i know of. You run into some probz, with games that wont start on your A1200, it might be because they need a Kickstarter 1.3, and if they do, there nothing to, unless you can get hold of a Kickstarter switch.

Not, what I know of. Most games that won´t work on non-a500 machines, do not work because of:

Being chip-memory only (but request any kind of memory), only uses 24bit adresses, or do not wait for the blitter.

Chip-memory only games can run when fastmem is disabled. Many games that doesn´t wait for the blitter( or lacks other kind of synchronization), work when the caches are disabled. Games that only uses 24bit adresses cannot be helped out without patches.

I can´t remember any game, which doesn´t work because of a wrong kickstart( though newer games might require newer kickstarts).

The reason why I'm considering a new Amiga is that I just had a used A500 die on me yesterday. Unless I find a used one around where I live (Lund, Sweden) and I can inspect it before purchase I fell reluctant to buy it... If I find one at a great price I'm willing to take a chance though. :-)

[miles]

Why not buy both a a1200 and a a500?  You should just about get the
a500 for nothing, I've been given 3!  Some games do not like running
on the a1200 because of the caches on the 020, but by holding down
both mouse buttons when you boot the machine you get a early startup
screen that lets you turn the caches off and select OCS or ECS
effectivlly turning the a1200 into a a500.

Some games still will not work and you will have to use Relokick or a
similar program to softkick Kickstart 1.3 as well.  Some (old) games
will still not work though.  Boot the a500 up ;-)

The A1200 can use a 2.5" laptop harddrive.  You will need a 44pin hard
drive cable for this and HDToolbox (software).  3.5" hard drives can
be used but you will need a 44pin to 40pin IDE cable and a 4 pin hard
drive power plug spliced into the floppy power cable.  You will need a
slim 3.5" drive to fit the case of the 1200 and still might need to
cut some of the rf shield away to fit it.  You do not need a special
interface for a 3.5" drive.  Note that a lot of old games cannot be
installed to hard drive without special software (whdload).

Keep the hard drive size under 2Gb for maximum compatbility.

The more you add to the A1200 the less old games will work.  Indeed a
few old games do not like a hard drivve or extra floppy connected!

The late A1200s had a modified pc high density floppy and some games
will not work with it.

I keep a a600 for old games that do not like my a3000.

Christmas 1993 for a new 1200 ;-)

[whabang]

sharpshooter wrote:
The reason why I'm considering a new Amiga is that I just had a used A500 die on me yesterday. Unless I find a used one around where I live (Lund, Sweden) and I can inspect it before purchase I fell reluctant to buy it... If I find one at a great price I'm willing to take a chance though. :-)

Jag kan se ifall jag kan plocka fram min gamla 500a ur förrådet...
Du kan få den billigt. ( förutsatt att den funkar )

Christmas 1993 for a new 1200

Yeah, but I got an A500 for christmas in 1990 (i think). :-)

Jag kan se ifall jag kan plocka fram min gamla 500a ur förrådet... Du kan få den billigt. ( förutsatt att den funkar )

Hehe, trevligt (om den funkar). :-) Har du låda och så kvar eller är det att hoppas på för mycket? :-)

[miles]

Had to buy my own :-D  And then spend heaps of $$$ over the next 12
years :-)  I've now got the Miggy I wanted 10 years ago!!!

Post #100 :-)

Just wait a bit and then...
Go for Pegasos system! :-P

Emulation rulez  ;-)

[whabang]

sharpshooter wrote:

Jag kan se ifall jag kan plocka fram min gamla 500a ur förrådet... Du kan få den billigt. ( förutsatt att den funkar )

Hehe, trevligt (om den funkar). :-) Har du låda och så kvar eller är det att hoppas på för mycket? :-)

Ahh, desvärre. Ingen låda.

Jag ska se om jag hinner kolla den i helgen.
( Ska kolla om jag kan hitta orginal WB disketterna också... )

Ahh, desvärre. Ingen låda.

Jag ska se om jag hinner kolla den i helgen.
( Ska kolla om jag kan hitta orginal WB disketterna också... )

Inte många som har kvar lådan har jag märkt, men det kvittar ju egentligen. Nåja, gött om du kan kolla den i helgen. :-) Hur mycket hade du tänkt dig att ta för den om den funkar förresten?

[Desolator]

If you buy the Amiga Magic pack from GGS-Data (they are THE best when it comes to Amiga systems.) then beware of the floppy drive. I read somewhere that the drives in the Amiga Magic packs actually was converted PC drives, and it seems to be true. Things that work on my Commodore 1200 perfectly does not boot on my newer A1200. But so far that has only been a few games like Chuck Rock, Awesome, RocketRanger,Bubba & Stix and sadly Tower of Souls. Covert Action worked perfectly and the HDD that comes with the Amiga Magic Pack has plenty of room for games and applications.

It is a good purchase anyway IMHO. I remember my hands were shaking when I unpacked it. It was like it used to be, in the good old times... A new Amiga, the A1200...  :-D

(hey, same town I notice..  :-P )